"I could cry just thinking about it," she said. "But we have just really had tragic, tragic losses over the years. Much more than any school should have in an 11-year span."

One of those was Band Director Rick Lorenzen, who died suddenly in the fall of 2009. He was found at his desk by students arriving for a weekend band practice.

The school's current band director, Neil Anderson, who considered Lorenzen a mentor, said Jefferson showed her stripes as a leader at the time.

"Renate rallied around those kids," Anderson said. "She made sure that they had a future, and that was really important. She understood the importance of that music program to those kids. And she made sure that it kept going."

Being a principal is more than just a job to Jefferson, she says it's a lifestyle. And she draws great pleasure attending the dances, concerts, plays and games. Or going to see the robotics team honored at a City Council meeting.

"It is a lifestyle, absolutely," Walters said. "It is a family commitment. It's not just you, your whole family (is part of the commitment)."

Not too long after he took over as band director, Anderson was standing next to Jefferson at some sporting event. At Vista High School in San Diego County, where Anderson worked before coming to Murrieta Valley, Anderson had been known to ask the football coach after a big win if he wanted to conduct the pep band.

That day, standing next to Jefferson, he made the same offer.

"She didn't even think twice about it, just climbed right up on the ladder and away she went," he said.

She has a stock line that explains her commitment to extra-curriculars.

"I've always said, what job offers you as much entertainment as a high school principal," she said.

At the same time, the German-born Jefferson, who taught English, French and German before she got into administration, has tremendous passion for the work that takes place in the classroom.

Back in 1991 when she was interviewing to come to Murrieta, she said they were looking for teachers who were employing different methods for engaging students. That was something that Jefferson had been through working in Long Beach.

She said it was a "very difficult population, and I just had to so change my teaching strategies."

Coming reforms excite her, even if she won't be a part of them.

"I am very encouraged about and excited about our educational system changing in the sense that we are really looking for the students to become more independent learners," Jefferson said.

Her retirement plans don't sound too, well, retiring.

She wants to teach a class, and volunteer, and do some work in the classroom of her daughter, who is a high school teacher in the Lake Elsinore district. She plans to fit in time for travel with her husband, Gary, himself a retired teacher.